RE: Is saying "...so I know how science works." likely to convince people?
February 14, 2020 at 9:47 pm
(This post was last modified: February 14, 2020 at 9:48 pm by Abaddon_ire.)
(January 30, 2019 at 3:50 am)FlatAssembler Wrote: <snip for brevity>
OK. When it comes to knowledge about anything Croatian I am quite happy to state up front that my knowledge in that area is vanishingly small. I know a little of the story of covert Russian bases in the region. I know a little of historic monuments in the region. But I would flat out refuse to claim to be any kind of expert. And that is the the very core of what you are getting at.
I am an expert in my own subject. But a large part of being so is the recognition that this does not magically make me an expert in everything else. An actual subject matter expert will also realise that they are NOT an expert in ALL matters.
And there is the rub. In the crankiverse, not only is expertise in one area assumed to somehow confer expertise in all other areas, the expertise is assumed by the crank to flow into everywhere else.
To put a solid example on it, I demolished the Fake Obama Birth Cert nonsense with ease. Why? Because It fell within my domain of expertise and long experience.
But carpenters are still wizards to me. Ask me to cut a log and I guarantee you I will cock it up somehow. Me and wood simply do not get along.
You could ask me to ethernet up your house, provide USB ports all over or anything of that nature. I could do such without a thought.
Ask me to cut a plank and you will recieve no more than splinters.
Expertise is not only about knowing what you can do. It is also about realising what you cannot.
